Infiltration Modelling in Pooppara Soil of Idukki District in Kerala State

Infiltration tests were conducted at three locations in the Pooppara Tribal Colony area. Physico-chemical analysis of the soil samples shows that the soil type for the selected locations is sandy clay loam and is acidic in nature with low bio-manure. The steady state infiltration rate at the three locations varied from 6.6 to 24 cmh⁻¹. Four infiltration models namely Kostiakov, Modified Kostiakov, Philip two-term and Horton models were used to predict the infiltration rates at these three locations. The correlation coefficient and the relative errors between the observed and predicted infiltration rates were compared for selecting the appropriate model. It is observed that the Modified Kostiakov model, with R²>0.96 and relative error values under 16% emerged to be the best in describing the infiltration process of the Pooppara soil.